Straight A's

Noah got 'em again. It's pretty amazing really. He just keeps nailing it. His teachers continue to comment on his work ethic and how kind he is to everyone. It's hard not to be proud when your boy does that much good. So, I'm proud and getting ready for our next adventure together. Noah gets to pick whatever he would like to do for one event. That is our deal. The last two times he wanted to play golf at nice courses. This time he wants to go to a Magic game. So, that's where I'll be with him. It'll be great.

My thought on this one is that you learn how to make A's. Things get more complicated, but the effort required to get A's pretty much stays the same. The incentive is just a reminder to him that those who work hard are rewarded eventually. It does not come daily, but it does come if you are patient, faithful, and work hard. If you learn how to make A's, you can almost always make them. It will serve him well over his life.

It's nice to be in this season of his life. We can do things together and he still wants to spend time with me. I know I only have a few more years of that before it is at least not as obvious that he'd like to hang out with me :) I am excited that Noah has chosen the path of hard work. I know it could just as easily go the other way.

He is continuing the Hunter tradition.

"Work your butt off and watch what God does with it." -my own self, just now.

Reading makes me think

I got the protection part down. I watch her even when she doesn't know it...

I don't read a lot. I take that back. I don't read a lot of fiction. I read a lot.

Our small group is reading through a book called "Strong Father, Strong Daughter." The book is written to fathers about the impact they will have on the development of their daughters. It is quite fascinating. I don't want to believe what this lady is saying, but I know it's true. I see it everywhere around me. Women who did not have loving, strong, fathers struggle with things that others who did, don't. The book talks about how a father will teach his daughter about God, love, sex, confidence, security and a host of other things, just by the way he builds into her life without ever saying a word.

Needless to say, (but, I will anyway) It made me very much consider who I am for Ava. I know she needs a present father who can point her back to Christ. A father who will protect her, set boundaries for her, and listen to her like she is the only one in the room when she talks. I am not good at the last one yet. I am purposing to engage more with her in the days ahead. I want her to know that she matters. I want to do all I can to help her not have to "overcome" when she is an adult. I know I can't control that part, but I can control me. I can put forth the energy to not look at my cell phone when it buzzes at 7:30pm and she is in the middle of a story.

I am going to. It's worth it.

Well, she just got up...gonna go spend some time with her.

Hunter Vision Update

The rough sketch of Hunter Vision location #1

(click on it to make it the size of Detroit)

It's been a while since the last real update. So I figured I'd give the lowdown. I don't know where that phrase comes from, but I like it. Lowdown.

Big week this week:

1. Got round 2 of concept sketches showing what the space may look like. Just floor plans, not 3-d holograms or anything.

2. Subcontractors will take the sketches and walk the space today to begin to put together initial scopes of work and ballpark bids.

3. We got our own checks. Now when I write a company check it doesn't look like I tore it out of my personal checkbook! I know that is not really a big deal, but I sure am happy about it. Now, if we can just get some checks to counter the ones I am writing, we will be in business.

4. Thursday we get to see round one of our new logo and branding work. We are really excited about it. It will be nice to finally have a business card when people ask. Pray that turns out how we want it to. I really don't know what it will look like.

The next few weeks:

1. Drawings will move to construction docs and will be sent to permit (hopefully by the end of the month).

2. Web work will begin as we build our first small website that will have our information, a blog (of sorts), and a place where people can put their info to sign up for appointments.

3. Massive amounts of detail in the office will be tackled. The list is as long as my arm.

This stuff is fun.

p.s. When you look at the drawing, the area that is ours in in white. The greyish hatched area is Centra Care...their lobby is in white also. We are dividing, what is currently, a shared lobby with some of this construction work.

5th Grade Basketball

What a defensive battle. Lisa and I saw our first, live, 5th grade basketball game on Saturday morning. It was awesome. Noah did great. He hasn't ever played before (other than a shooting hoops with his buddies in our driveway) so this made him a weeee bit nervous :) I believe the final score, after a 48 minute game of hoops, was 16-12. We lost, but it was great stuff.

Noah scored 1 basket, (pictured above) but he wasn't too happy about it. He said, "some days I guess your shot just isn't fallin'." I, for one, resonated with that and whole-heartedly agreed. I failed to mention to him that my "shot has never fallen" for fear I might discourage him or pierce the jaded veil of super-hero powers he still believes I wear. I also told him that Uncle Joel never scored a basket in several years of league basketball and now he is a brilliant Dr., so hoops doesn't have to be his career path. He laughed a bunch that Uncle Joel never scored...I think he missed my point.

Good times with the family this weekend...

My Uncle Matt and Aunt Linda came and visited, too! We ate some dinner at Mom and Pop's and talked corporate tax structure. It was awesome. They are smart and I need all the help I can get.

More exciting adventure tales tomorrow...I'm fully back on the wagon.

Friday stuff

Man Stuff.

Mom, those are decorative flasks that do not work. Ok, now I will begin my post. Just wanted to make that clear...

I realized yesterday that I had not shown the blogosphere the awesome Christmas present that I got from Lisa. It was a lot of work to get this squared away and into it's final location. But, after a few hours of organizing, it was complete. I had kept all of my guns and ammo in the full-on, lockable, fireproof, no one can break in, safe that I have.

That worked fine until Christmas this year. Uncle Jan got me a new rifle and it wouldn't quite fit with all my other guns. I was forced to add more "manly storage". Lisa agreed that a lockable ammo cabinet would be a good idea so that the safe could only hold valuable guns and knives and all the ammo could be stored in another location. So, my new space was born.

Lockable ammo storage. Who could possibly want anything else for Christmas? And yes, that's a lot of ammo. I think the cabinet weighs more than my car.

***(unrelated) I work at RDV all day today. That's kind of weird. On today's agenda...find out how to get internet access into our space.

The last few days...

Since I am pretty much an all or nothing guy, I decided not to begin 2010's year of discipline push until after I knew I would have a fighting chance of doing it. I spent the last 3 days with the Summit leadership guys on a planning retreat and those just never work for maintaining disciplined sleeping and eating schedules. So, like all great and accomplished men before me, I figured "why even try?" The year of discipline begins now.

Much has happened in the last few days since the last blog. I'll get us up to date today and then get back to the main theme of no theme tomorrow.

1. My cousin Angela had a baby.

Crazy and scary stuff! She was only 30 weeks and found out on a routine Dr. visit that she was super sick and the only way to make her well was to get baby Lydia out. You can get the full story on my cousin Amber's blog here. The short version is Angela looks to be doing much better and baby Lydia is doing as well as a 2 lb baby can (but, 2 lbs is super tiny and she'll be in NICU for a while).

2. Ashley and Andy had a baby.

Sweet Janie Simonds was born this morning at around 12 am. From what I gather, all are doing well and she and Luke will be married by the end of the week as soon as she can get her stuff together and get out of the hospital. Andy and Ashley are great friends of ours and we couldn't be happier for them!

3. I moved my first load of Hunter Vision stuff to RDV.

This was pretty awesome. Kinda surreal, but I moved a couple boxes of random items to RDV this week. While it was only some picture frames and a little coffee pot, it made it all that much more real. Tomorrow is my first full day in the Hunter Vision offices.

4. The branding work for Hunter Vision began.

Maven began to develop the identity that will be Hunter Vision for the next decades. I really can't wait to see what they come up with.

***sidenote here: we secured the web domain "huntervision.com" which just about sent Joel through the roof with happiness. It had been owned by some guy in New York for the past 10 years, expired in November, he didn't renew, it went to a private auction (that we by luck entered) and then we ended up paying $300 for something we could have paid much more to own...God is good and this was pretty incredible. It was also incredible that Joel did not go into cardiac arrest when trying to watch the last few minutes of the auction. Look for great stuff to be on that web address in the hopefully near future!

5. I worked out in all of Lisa's fitness classes at RDV (she knows everyone and those classes really hurt)

Lisa's friends are so fit they are intimidating. You know when you look at them that even though they are 100 lbs they could outrun you, outlast you and outpunch you if it were ever necessary. Luckily, Lisa and her friends are all nice and only tried to kill me in the hardest exercise classes since high school wrestling practice. Also, I tried Yoga. It is for tall or skinny people...I'll just leave it at that.

6. Noah started basketball

Noah had his first basketball scrimmage yesterday. He loved it. Apparently, he doesn't pass much because he scored 14 of his team's 20 points in the game. I really am looking forward to these games. The first one is on Saturday...I will have the camera ready.

2010...Day 1

Hunter Vision lobby (before renovation)...nice 90's colors eh?

This is day one.

2010 will be a year I remember for the rest of my life. Like the year I started my first job at Olde stockbrokers, the year I started at Northland, and the year I started at Summit...this is a year of the start of Hunter Vision. While it feels like it has been around for a long time, it is for real this year. It moves from idea to reality. I started on payroll today. That makes it official to me. I am 3/4 time Summit employee and full time Hunter Vision employee. Pretty awesome. I go full time at Hunter Vision on April fools day. (no joke)

The next few months will be fun. No lack of things to do, but it will all be great stuff. No matter what I will be helping my brothers. It's what I do. I love it.

2010...gonna be good. Bring it.